I’m entering college next fall. My mind is set to major in computer science particulary I want to specialize in programming aka software development. I just want people to explain to me the difficulty out of 10 how hard it is to gain the degree (bachelor/masters/PhD). Which computer science majors is one of the highest paid? Is it true a lot of companies are looking for CS major students? Is Computer Science students easier to get laid off? Or give me a pathway/road on the time to achieve the benefits of CS! Thanks! Please reply back!
You don’t seem to have the right mindset on CS: while you can go into it for the money and do well, you need to actually like it. Also, job markets fluctuate. People speculate if CS will even be above average in 5 years in terms of pay. By the time you graduate, the reason you picked your major could be irrelevant.
Now, to the questions:
Difficulty varies person to person. For some, it’s a 2 or 3. For others, it’s a 9 or 10. Most, probably in the middle. CS is all about conceptual math and logic, and its practical application. Your skill there will heavily affect how difficult you find it.
If you’re going into software dev, you certainly don’t need a Ph.D., and a masters degree will be paid for by a lot of companies. A bachelor’s is the standard.
Not sure what you mean by CS majors…
CS jobs don’t usually get laid off, but there is a lot of movement. Most people in the industry change jobs every few years for a couple reasons: First, there is currently the ability to move around. Second, it keeps you from being bored.
This is what really concerns me. It is quite possible you do have a passion for CS and didn’t mention it, but if you don’t and are in it for the benefits, I don’t see the road ahead being easy.
As I’m not as knowledgeable …take it as a grain of salt:
How difficult BS in Computer Science is from 1 to 10 in which 10 is hardest:
Note that this is very arbitrary since it is relative to the person.
I rate Computer Science difficulty as 2.5 from 1 to 10 and I attend a so called US News top “5” school.
<i would="" rate="" pure="" mathematics="" as="" 8.2="" 10="" but="" then="" hey,="" who="" knows="" :)="">
<<< Most people will rate CS as around 8.5/10 as being one of the most difficult majors so…>>><i would="" rate="" pure="" mathematics="" as="" 8.2="" 10="" but="" then="" hey,="" who="" knows="" :)="">
Which computer science majors is one of the highest paid:
Probably the ones doing software development in some large company like Facebook.
Is it true lot of companies are looking for CS majors?
I don’t know but considering my friends are getting 2-3 offers easily, I guess. (Some even 7 but note that I do not attend your local college so my experience might be very biased)
CS easier to get laid off?
No idea but considering there are words of age discrimination, sure.
I would highly believe that CS would have rampant age discrimination due to its somewhat unhealthy culture of “be young”.
Ehh, rest idk 
hey thanks for answering! I meant like i wan tto specialize in programming more than computer science related fields. Is there a choice in college where there is more programming than math?
There are a fair number of specific Software Engineering degrees (maybe 10% of schools that have CS have SE), but the full breadth of CS is usually looked upon as a positive, even for programmers. The math is very important to CS: you don’t need the full theoretical side, but the math is baked into any high level of programming, and being familiar with it is a must. Even a Software Engineering degree should include math and some theory courses on things like Algebra.
So in a way, yes, but programming inherently involves math: it would just be considered to be more “applied” math.
Hey, so basically I think everyone is “wired” differently, what’s easy to one person is difficult to another. Luckily for me, I realized my brain worked for CS. So the difficulty for me would be like 1-3 out of 10 (Based on professor). That being said, I’ve talked to people who’ve dropped out of the CS program and ran to physics or chemistry, to which I can’t understand what I’m looking at. Of course since I don’t know your school I can only make suggestions based on my own school, but CS majors have a ton of software engineering courses in them. They start out teaching you objected oriented programming, generally in Java or C++ and then the following courses improve your coding skills and teach you the fundamentals such as algorithm analysis, data structure implementation, and even a class called “Software engineering”. There are also other courses such as database implementation, networking, and other classes like ethical computing, computers and society.
As for jobs, I had an internship last summer with a top 5 insurance company in the US, paid, and was offered a raise for next summer and likely a job upon graduation. So CS is very popular among employers. As for getting laid off, there soon will be a period of CS job loss like in '08, but if you’re good at what you do and actually know what you’re talking about and doing, this isn’t a concern of yours.
The last real bloodbath in the CS job market was in 2001 to 2003. The 2008 to 2009 downtown was a blip in CS, which was less affected than other fields (it was particularly bad for civil engineering and architecture).